Spontaneous workshop

Arnout Vandecappelle (België)

On the way to the documentary about which I was supposed to report, I ended up in a conversation with Hiro (J), Lucia (I), Rodrigo (E), Halina (E), Nora Caro (7 months old), Denise (CH) and Katrien (B). This conversation quickly turned into a mini-workshop about inclusive education. Because there was such an interest, Lucia will organize a full workshop about it this afternoon (Tuesday 31/7).

In Italy, inclusive education is enforced by law. There are no schools for "special needs children". For many schools, this presents a problem, but at Lucia's school it works very well. Inclusive education has a positive effect on the handicapped children themselves, but more importantly also on the other children. They learn to be flexible and understand others; for instance, that to help a blind person put his luggage in the storage compartment on the train, you shouldn't just take the luggage, but you should tell the person that there is space 20cm to the left.

Lucia has gathered a lot of materials in a binder (funded by the EU). It includes pages about the Loto made by a Palestinian group of teachers: it's a self-correcting game that can be used for various subjects like spelling, the human body, or recognizing shapes for dyslectic children. Another game is “sick words go to the hospital”. Come to the workshop to have a closer look.

The workshop ended with a free discussion about nuclear energy ("Nuclear energy may be cheaper, but it's like killing your child to save money."), about the situation in Israel and Palestine (“Tolerant people are leaving Israel, and new immigrants are less idealistic and more concerned with their own well-being.”), and even about the power of banks and the value of gold.